Where Miss Snark vented her wrath on the hapless world of writers and crushed them to sand beneath her T.Rexual heels of stiletto snark. The blog is dark--no further updates after 5/20/2007.

1.31.2006

More on "being seen"

To address the anonymous post about painters vs. writers: One key difference is that paintings can be seen without purchase. In art school, I was basically taught to make art and not worry about sales. Resume, sure. Sales, pfft! Just keep painting. But as a writer, your work isn't "seen" publicly unless it's published and subsequently bought. (red emphasis is from MS)

And I heart Miss Snark, too. Can we get bumper stikers that say that?

ahhhh. Are you saying my "writing" isn't seen? I beg to differ. There's a clicker on the bottom of the log that shows just how seen it is.

There are lots of ways for people to see your writing that does not involve being published, or an agent. Far be it from me to tell anyone that writing a blog is useless; it's one of the things I get a huge kick out of. And there are all sorts of ways to write starting with newsletters in groups you belong to, Amazon reviews on books you read, and the comments column of this very blog.

Being published is a worthy goal. My point is that if you don't reach that goal, you haven't wasted your time. And I'm never going to suggest you give up. I have clients right now, on my list this very second, who took YEARS of editing suggestions and finally got something I can take a run at the market with.

I like the bumper sticker idea!!! I wonder if the MTA will let me put it on the train?

My original point was not to say that publishing is the end-all. And I loved MS's original post of encouragement. I was just trying to adddress a respondant's queestion about why visual arts and writing seemed different.

I was talking about artists that don't display in public and musicians that play for themselves, friends, and family, not for the public at large. The majority of artists and musicians I know have been of that kind, while the vast majority of writers I have known strive to be published, and not by vanity press.

There are a few writers who do that too, but they are rare. Seems nearly all writers are out for full publication, not vanity press.